Estes Park sales tax receipts up 6.1 percent

Estes Park appears to bouncing back from last year's floods in a fairly decent fashion.

At the halfway point of the year, sales tax collections are up 6.1 percent when compared to the first six months of 2013.

Leading the recovery was retail, lodging and professional. Retail for the first six months of 2014 was up 14.7 percent ($74,601). That reflects total sales of $1,865,025. Lodging was up 9.6 percent ($71,249). That reflects total sales of $1,781,225.

Professional was up 8.5 percent ($4,979). That reflects total business of $124,475.

The only categories to show a drop for the first six months were automotive and recreation. Automotive for the first six months of 2014 was down 14.1 percent ($10,420). That reflects a drop in sales of $260,500. Recreation was down 11.5 percent ($3,001). That reflects a drop in sales of $75,025.

Overall, despite what appears to have been a slow June (just up 2 percent), the first half of the year was solid and town officials have taken notice of that.

In the second part of a two-part letter to community, Estes Park Town Administrator Frank Lancaster said recently "all signs point to strong economic recovery for Estes Park."

Lancaster added that this will almost assuredly be a record year for sales tax collections since a 1 percent sales tax increase went into effect on July 1.

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